Before Jesus launched His ministry – He had a different job.
What was it? You know – He was a carpenter.
Much of the artwork that shows Jesus as a carpenter puts Him in a
workshop – carefully mitering corners on wooden boxes or making
tables and chairs and beds. He very likely did do some of that kind
of what could be called “craftsman” carpentry – but the word used
for carpenter in the New Testament has a more specific meaning.
The word tek-TONE in Greek has to do with constructing buildings.
The Greeks – like the Romans who followed them – were great
builders. Their “tek-TONES” constructed the Parthenon and countless
other civic buildings and pagan temples.
Jesus and His stepfather Joseph were probably much like those
builders. They would have worked in both wood and stone.
Hard work. Sometimes dangerous work. Back-breaking work.
Which would explain how Jesus – whose was an itinerant preacher –
had the physical strength to chase away the crooked moneychangers
in the Temple and flip over their heavy wooden tables (like the long,
rectangular ones that once filled our pavilion).
Jesus loved to sprinkle illustrations from everyday Judean life into His
teaching – and the one from today’s reading from John’s account of the
Gospel is downright autobiographical. He tells His disciples:
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me – so that
where I am, you will also be.”
You would expect words like that from a man who knows how to build
houses. Only in the case of Jesus, you don’t have to buy the house
from Him or pay Him for His work: it’s a gift from Him to you.
As a child, I used to sing Ira Stanphill’s hymn, “I’ve Got a Mansion,
Just Over the Hilltop.” And what is a mansion? A big house with lots
of rooms. Which is what Jesus has gone to prepare for His followers.
But our best efforts to imagine what it will look like are heavily
influenced by what we treasure here on earth now. As the first verse
of that hymn goes:
I'm satisfied with just a cottage below
A little silver and a little gold
But in that city where the ransomed will shine
I want a gold one that's silver-lined
Did the Son of God give His life on Calvary so that each of us could
have a garish gold- and silver-plated estate? That’s not what Jesus
was describing to His disciples in our Gospel passage for today.
His words suggest that our heavenly dwelling will be more like a
dormitory or maybe even an apartment building: the Father’s house
has “many rooms.” More rooms than any hotel or condo in the world –
because it will have enough rooms for everyone who trusts in Jesus
Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.
All of His followers – both the living and the dead – of every tribe and
every nation – will live with Him there forever. Which is a long time.
An infinitely long time.
This is not a pipe dream or wishful thinking on the part of Christians.
It is a declaration from Jesus Himself -
Two weeks from today, we will celebrate Ascension Sunday –
commemorating the day that Jesus was taken by His Father back
into heaven. That is where He went so that He could fulfill His
promises to prepare that place for us – and to come back to take us
to be with Him in that place.
Forever. Notice how Jesus calls them “dwelling places” or “abiding
places” – not temporary shelters or motel rooms – but places where
people will live permanently. With each other – and with Jesus.
He told His disciples this because they were going to need hope.
He would soon go to the cross and give His life for those disciples –
and all the disciples who would come along after His resurrection and
ascension. That group includes you and me.
His disciples’ hearts were troubled by all the disturbing predictions
Jesus had been making about being “betrayed into the hands of sinful
men” and how he would give His life “as a ransom for many.”
Not only did He want them to know that He would come back to life
after His crucifixion – but He also wanted them to have hope to hang
onto for the rest of their lives – most of which would be cut short by
persecution.
So Jesus is not simply giving them hope for Good Friday – He is also
giving them hope for each day. The same Jesus who was going to
prepare a place for them – which they would inhabit someday – would
also be watching out for them every day – and interceding for them
with His Father every day.
And that same Jesus is – about two-thousand years later – still
interceding for us at His Father’s right hand. We have the Apostle
Paul’s word on it in chapter 8 of his letter to the Roman Christians.
And He has prepared a place for us.
Where is the Father’s house and where are the mansions?
Can we take a tour of them – go to an open house –
maybe put in a reservation?
We don’t have to worry about that. Jesus has it all worked out.
We don’t even need directions – because His promise in this passage
is that He will come back to take us to be with Him – so that wherever
He is, we will be.
Not that we should be in any hurry to get there. We have plenty of
work to do for Jesus here on earth. People to help. People to
encourage. People to comfort. And people to introduce to Jesus –
so He can build many more mansions for them. Amen.